Um… I’ve never been outright bullied in my life but first time for everyone I guess…

Walgreens has been the most disgusting environment I’ve ever been in…. In my life… I had one recent grad pharmacist try to speculate on my sexuality for some unknown reason and cause a spectacle on the floor… about my “preferences”… That’s what they started calling it “my preferences”… and I would be trying to work and I would have to hear this…

I was polite but I also tried to confront them ok….they were like “oh don’t worry about it”….. um you’re talking about me and I’m long term married … but OK THEN…

I was prevented from learning about half the pharmacy (medications and storage) bc favoritism. I was stuck on mostly the drive through for full shifts… and I could do it… but no one cared.

Another girl was hired at the same time as me - she would loudly broadcast her new mental health diagnosis… over and over. And her “management skills” from her previous position… so early on I kept noticing she was trying to find ways to outshine and “manage”me… which I felt incredibly uncomfortable with as we were hired at the same time…

A new pharmacist there really enabled this girl and would promote her, allowed her to “give” me tasks, give her preferential training and say - we’re on the same medications, we are so similar etc… I just got so uncomfortable... I tried to join in and talk about a family member of mine with a similar diagnosis and they used that against me.

Before I knew it any hesitation (NOT mistake… lol I made very few mistakes….) but just me hesitating was a sign of my “stupidity”…. I quit because they started taking me out of the pharmacy and entertaining making me learn the front of the store and work the front of the store COMPLETELY BY MYSELF…. With basically no training… saying stuff like “Umm . You don’t have an earpiece…. Yeah just page me” … they said over the intercom…. And so very shortly I was like yeah I’m not using the intercom for that… this is bad

Then they said I was basically precious, also “stupid” and I had a “weird sexuality” …. And any time I had some hesitation about how to run a full ass western union capable register with 0 training at all… with like $1000 sketchy complicated transactions… RANDOMLY. But I was “stupid” right bc I couldn’t read the “cash only” text on the screen… honestly half the stuff on screens is problematic so I rely on advise and feedback… smh

I came into work today in cheap scrubs I bought myself after I got permission… bc I was hired to be a pharmacy technician… I’ve been here 4 weeks ok… and they basically are like “you think too good to work the front? nice scrubs…”

I had my lunch on the counter next to a computer bc I was clocking in and they said my lunch looked dirty… but I still played it off like “oh gosh, I recycle sorry”

This week they had a girl from the front who had an existing trainee license from the store front they were training on all the stuff they kept me away from for WEEKS…. bc of some compliance disaster they have with the board of pharmacy… I liked the girl a lot but it was awful bc they kept telling her “ugh you learn so fast” and training her on stuff I’ve been wanting basic access to for so long…

Like I remember wanting a basic explanation of screens… for 2 mins… didnt ever get it bc I was stuck on drive through chaos basically winging it which made me uncomfortable in the first place

I have a family.
I have animals.
I have so many things I take care of.

Yall I can work a full chaos drive though for 7 hours straight for days in a row without complaining… but the second I complain one time this pharmacist is trying to bury me I guess

I dunno what I should have done “unloaded trucks” until they said stupid little me could finally learn pharmacy… and wear scrubs with their approval… I mean… the head games with this place.

Honestly I’m about to pass the PTCB even though I walked out today… I’m disoriented … this is insane I’m really confused and disgusted.

I don’t want anyone I know to use a retail pharmacy at this point … unless it’s a necessity. I have serious concerns about “pharmacists” and their quality or maturity.

I didn’t see this field this way before this… I thought fair days work fair days pay. Show up be open to learn etc….

If they had of told me “so you will work the pharmacy and the store during training ” I would have been like ok. But that’s not what they said.

If they had of said “you will scrub the toilets everyday” I would have been like ok.

I agreed to be a pharmacy technician. Why is this a joke… to them…

Also my last day before I quit I took a pic of their planned schedule. The nasty pharmacist had their favorite technician who was hired at the same time as me working with assistance and aids and help all day and then the late shift I was totally ON MY OWN with drive and the counter…

It’s just so weird like ok I’m so stupid then why am I doing both… while you’re girl is getting all this support

Never again.

I have the picture. Oh yeah.

I quit my freaking job…

This is the most abusive workplace I’ve ever been around

I’m new…

what the hell just happened… ?

TL;DR help with a really insane retail pharmacy dynamic including vicious levels of bullying commonly seen in immature juveniles…

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I’m only a pharmacy tech, but I understand the importance of documenting. I document almost everything, ranging from what an insurance rep told me over the phone to why a RX is being stored (mostly because it’s OTC, patient ended up not wanting it, etc.)

But sometimes I feel like my coworkers just kinda… overlook them? I love my team but maybe I’m just doing too much for my own good. Like the day before yesterday, a patient requested delivery for their medications and I annotated that they wanted same-day delivery so after the pharmacist reviews the actual RX and the leaflet prints out, it shows up on the top in big words “DELIVERY” and a note that I put that I had already verified the patient’s address over the phone. I had to leave right after since my shift was over so I was hoping one of my coworkers saw that note.

Yesterday, when I was helping put the ready prescriptions in the bins, I found that same medication in the bin. Not processed, it was just still sitting there. Fortunately, the patient hadn’t called back to ask so I did it myself so it’d be delivered the same day but I’m just like dang…

Also to be fair, it’s been busy at our store for a while so I get if instances like that get overlooked. But at the same time I’m just like “alright, it gets to a point because it’s in huge letters…”

Maybe I’m just doing too much and I just need to hold off. Not sure but just needed to rant 😅

I 100% get the purpose of the drive thru.
It’s for patient’s convenience not for speed and I can’t stress that enough. I have told multiple patients this and my coworkers.

Majority of the time my coworkers get stressed and frustrated because the line is long or patients ask 1,000 questions but I let them know to just calm down. This is for their convenience not for speed.

Unknowingly patients are agreeing to the unknown amount of time someone takes at the window.

Because yet again we want everyone to have a great experience while visiting our pharmacy so we don’t get bad reviews but they have to realize that nobody ever said (at least to me) that drive thru is for speed.

Let’s chat about this. I’d love to hear from anyone.

I work in a retail and hospital setting.

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Yesterday I had a really angry patient say that they'll transfer all of their stuff out and it's my fault.

She was standing near the registers on her phone talking and pacing in circles. Never addressed us at all. Pharmacist and I watched her and she said nothing. We kept working. Finally after helping at drive-thru she was giving me the eye. I said, "Ma'am, are you looking to pick up?" She gave me a duh look. I said, "We weren't sure because you're on your phone and never cameto the register. If you'd like to finish up and come to the register we can help you." Apparently that was offensive.

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I’ve been curious if this has changed over the last few years.

Are you seeing more patients asking about things like insurance coverage, cash prices, discount programs, or switching to generics for those who have been practicing for a while?

It feels like medication cost comes up in conversations much more often now, but I'm curious if that's actually what pharmacists are seeing.

I just finished a 4-day stretch (40 hours), and I'm mentally exhausted. Every day seemed to end with something that tested me as a pharmacist.

Day 1:Everything was going smoothly until we suddenly got hit with an influx of vaccine appointments, waiters, and prescriptions. During the rush, I reviewed a couple's immunization histories. Unfortunately, after my technician administered the vaccines, I realized one of the patients had already received their RSV vaccine previously. It was my first vaccine error. I immediately informed the patient, advised them on what side effects to watch for, documented everything, and notified their provider.

At the same time, I had an out-of-state patient waiting on a Percocet prescription. Before filling it, I had to call the prescriber's office to verify the diagnosis code and confirm the patient's last in-person visit to resolve the red flags.

Day 2: Again, things went well until the very end of the day. Five minutes before closing, a line formed. The last patient was a mother who said her son's pharmacy had transferred a prescription to us. I looked him up and found nothing in our system. I checked our fax inbox and found the transfer request sitting there. It had been faxed before noon.

I asked my technician about it, and she admitted she had answered the call earlier but forgot to follow through. Since the mother insisted her son was completely out of medication, I asked my technician if she would stay after closing to process it, and she happily agreed.

I explained to the mother that we were making a one-time exception because he was a new patient and was reportedly out of medication. I also mentioned that we were already past closing time and that we had families waiting for us at home. Instead of appreciating the effort, she responded that it should have already been done.

After we closed, I looked at the fill history that came with the transfer. The medication had been filled on June 19 for 30 days and then again on July 10 for another 30 days. Based on those dates, he shouldn't have been completely out. We never even got a thank you.

Day 3: My technician had been working seven straight days, and both of us were exhausted. About 18 minutes before closing, a grandmother brought in her granddaughter's insurance card and said an antibiotic from the emergency department should have been sent the night before.

We never received it. I called the emergency department, waited for a nurse because they were busy, and finally got the prescription at 5:52 PM. My technician entered it, I verified it, and then discovered the prescribed Augmentin strength wasn't covered by Medicaid. I looked up the formulary, calculated the equivalent covered strength, called the ED again for approval, got the okay, and we were able to dispense it before closing. The grandmother and granddaughter were incredibly grateful, and that made the extra effort worthwhile.

Day 4 (Monday): The morning was manageable with two technicians. A third technician came in around lunchtime, but she's been struggling lately despite having over 10 years of experience. She spent nearly 20 minutes helping one patient with insurance and the bridge program, then another patient whose Adderall required a prior authorization. She even asked me whether we could transfer a Adderall prescription to another pharmacy. A question I've answered for her multiple times before.

After lunch, everything fell apart. Waiters piled up, phones wouldn't stop ringing, patients needed counseling, and people were asking for OTC recommendations.

Then a patient wanted her entire profile transferred from a mail-order pharmacy. My technician called them and was told they only do verbal transfers. She put them on hold and asked me to stop everything to take the verbal transfers.

I got frustrated. I was already juggling waiters, counseling patients, answering questions, and trying to keep the pharmacy moving. I told her I simply didn't have time to sit down for a profile transfer and that I would either call the pharmacy later or request new prescriptions from the provider. One of the patients overheard me and kindly said, "Just do your best to stay afloat."

That comment stuck with me.

Yesterday was the first Monday of the month. Our pharmacy fills about 1,300-1,400 prescriptions every week. We usually have about three hours of pharmacist overlap on Mondays, and I get to leave early. But for the past three months, my pharmacy manager has taken PTO during the first week of every month, leaving me to handle these Mondays alone.

By the end of yesterday, I was completely drained. I don't usually admit this, but I reached a point where I felt completely defeated and just wanted the shift to be over. I literally found myself thinking that I wanted to quit my job and do something completely different.

I'm currently working 80 hours per pay period, and while that may not sound excessive compared to some pharmacists, the mental and emotional load is what is exhausting. Every shift feels like trying to balance patient safety, clinical decisions, workflow, staffing issues, customer expectations, and corporate metrics all at once.

When I make mistakes, I’m extremely hard on myself. I replay them over and over in my head and beat myself up for not catching something sooner. I care deeply about my patients, and that's why these situations weigh so heavily on me.

But carrying that stress, combined with the nonstop workload and constant interruptions, is becoming harder and harder. I know many pharmacists have stressful days, but this stretch really broke me. I'm starting to question how sustainable this profession is when you’re expected to prioritize patient safety while constantly being pulled in ten different directions.

So I'm doing data entry this evening and suddenly six prescriptions for generic Vyvanse drop into my queue. And I'm confused cuz they're all for the same patient and they're all for the same strength. Ended up inactivating three of the scripts and sending a professional but very bitchy note to the doctor

So to make sure my point is clear you are allowed to send in either one 90 day script for ac2 or 3 prescriptions for one month at a time. And if you send in three scripts you have to notate which one is for which time. I only mentioned this they know some states only allow you to do one month at a time. So I look at the first script and it says it's for November. I look at the last script and it says it's for August. So I work my way backwards and the doctor sent in August and September and October and labeled them script one and two and three with do not feel before dates. Then did the same thing for November December and January.

SMDH. If you don't know how to write a script or what the legal restrictions are, then perhaps you shouldn't be writing scripts at all.

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I don’t even know where to begin with this… so I’ll start from the beginning.

From the beginning, I’ve been the bottom of the barrel coworker. Usually ended up in drive-thru. Doesn’t sound too bad until you realize that the giant drive-thru window has no shade screen & sits right next to our medication robot. This robot puts off a lot of heat, which is nice in the winter, but absolutely balls blazing in the summer. The pharmacy sits at 75 degrees pretty regularly due to corporate controlling our AC. Recently, I’ve been working weekends, which means we’re super short-staffed. Drive-thru on weekdays usually consists of 2-hour increments due to how hot it gets. Somehow, I end up back there for my entire 8-hour shift while everyone else around me plays on their phone & openly talks shit on any & every customer that comes in.

We’re in the top 3 of the busiest pharmacies in the state, so if working in the heat for 8 hours straight wasn’t enough, I also get to put up with some of the shittiest customers. I’m constantly getting berated for the medication prices, getting screamed at about insurance, asked a million times if I can call the doctor or insurance for them, complaints about the line being too long, etc…. As if I’m the one that has any control over this. No, I don’t make the prices. No, I can’t call your insurance or doctor for you. No, I can’t tell other people in the drive-thru to hurry up. And no, I cannot fill your controlled substance on day 24/30.

And if that wasn’t irritating enough, there’s the work drama. I’ve worked at a retail pharmacy since July 2024. I moved 2 hours away from home & needed a new job pretty quickly. I have a best friend (we’ll call her A) whose twin sister (we’ll call her B) worked at this pharmacy. B put in a good word for me & I started pretty quickly. That’s when things started going downhill. Almost immediately, B started talking shit on A (yes, her twin sister) constantly. I never felt like I could say anything because B had worked here for much longer than I did, so she had made close friends with some of our coworkers. Eventually, A started working at another pharmacy across town. B ended up transferring to a different pharmacy & I thought that was the end of it. After months of putting up with being neglected in the drive-thru, I decided to apply to transfer to A’s pharmacy. No sooner do I get approved to transfer, B starts telling everyone at A’s pharmacy that I’m a terrible worker, no-call-no-show, call out every chance I get, etc. This was disheartening because I was really looking forward to starting new, and I‘ve never done any of the things they’re claiming. Then I find out that the reason I’ve been getting mistreated at my current pharmacy, is because B ruined my name there too & happens to be friends with one of the pharmacists. This pharmacist has gone out of his way to call me homophobic for not coming to his Christmas party (my mom had cancer, so I had to spend my entire Christmas break taking care of her), yelling at me to do a million tasks while everyone else just mopes around, and even went as far as to insult my career choice. Saying that “nurses are terrible” & “only nurses who go to (my current university) are only going there because they were too stupid to go anywhere else”.

On the bright side, I transfer in August. I’ve never been happier.

I’m not asking for anyone’s help or for clarification - I know what this script says (kind of). I’m here to share what myself and the four other pharmacists I was working with at the time could not come to a consensus on. Yes, we all know it’s #24 Pen VK 500 mg. The real fun is trying to decipher how this dentist wants it to be used. What do you see?

I'm a pharmacy tech, have been dispensing medications for years. With the technology and workflows that exist, realistically how do I still have a job? E-scripts are a thing, robo dispensers are a thing, what's stopping the doctor from pushing the electronic script directly to the robot dispenser? The pharmacist on duty still checks all of my dispensing, every single pill, instructions, etc, and counsels the patients anyway (legal requirements in my country) and I feel like a middle-man. And we have a robot-dispenser in our hospital pharmacy, and when I use it honestly all I'm sadly doing is indeed "sticking a label on a box". While I'm grateful to still have a job, I am genuinely curious why I haven't been replaced yet? And I'm not even talking about "AI replacing humans", just simple tech thats existed for years now.

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How much do you just LOVE the copay cards? No one ever reads the fine print! Had one the other day for a GLP-1. No big deal, right? WRONG!! New patient, getting a GLP-1. Has the copay card info on their phone. They have a certain type of insurance that isn't allowed to be used with the card, and insurance doesn't cover the medication. This particular card can be used separately, but they don't want to do that. Lo and behold, in the fine print, because of their insurance, they technically can't use the card, even to cash pay. So, since they want to be difficult about the copay, the pharmacist tells them they can't use it at all. They ask for the script back! 😆 (It actually was a hard copy) Had a man one time, try to use the first month free, for the second time, because he did6like the copay. It's a one use in a lifetime free first fill sir! I even called the 1-800 number for him, and they tell him the same thing and when he used it already. He transferred to another pharmacy!

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Do you have a rant or rave that you want to get off your chest but didn't feel like submitting your own thread? That's totally fine! Go ahead and post it here. That way we can all rant and rave about it with you!